Featured A nice old? birch bark and quill box

To my eye this appears to have some age to it. Possibly a decent amount. Possibly a large amount. Wondering if others would agree? Quite possibly out of the corporate collection of the Cigna Insurance company. A torn up and crumpled cataloguing slip was inside it. They did indeed deaccession their collection around twenty years ago which lends credence. I’d assume Ojibwe, Micmac, or either northeast (including Canada) area tribes work.

 

Nowwwwwww u show me this one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed a Mi'kmaq quill work basket ...... none other than...!!!

Dyed Porcupine quills , birchbark , and a wood base !!!

Several issues , but none to hide the beauty of a 19th century gem.

Size matters !!!!! Eh.!

So does color and design to home in on a factual date.
Analine dyes replaced older natural dyes and the ' v ' design structure... ( which is so 3D on the top of the lid ) ..gave way to more intricate quill work patterns .

I need my book..." Micmac Quillwork by Whitehead to drill down on the specifics , but I'm fading fast here.... so it'll have to be tomorrow.

If anyone else here has the book..... or cares to expand .... have at it !!!

You'll never believe how this cleans up..... but it's methodical ...delicate work ...at best !!!!!

 

Based on your fingertips in picture #2, it looks quite big!!

Dude, you got 1& exclamation marks from Komo! Wow!

 

I'd say not more than 5 x 5..

 

& at least I'm right with this basket........

 

Weeeee! I really thought it looked like a 19th century example! I looked at hundreds of photos/listings and felt great about that conclusion but didn’t want to be cocky and declare victory without more experienced eyes on it. It came buried in a lot, because of the damage I suppose. I couldn’t find another 19th century example (or other early example) with a similar design on the lid. That was the only thing that had me thrown. I wonder if that design could point towards a more specific attribution at some point. Based on my reading the old designs aren’t arbitrary, they have some cultural background. The box is 6” wide, 4” tall. I was almost going to sell it and then the more I looked at it the more I thought it was old. Glad I didn’t get ahead of myself and let it go. It will stay with me for the foreseeable future. Thanks Komokwa!

 

4”x6”. !!!!!! can’t be a bad thing!

 

No , it's a classic size for the round birch bark boxes of this type.
I've bought and sold several..... happy to have them.... sad to see them go !!!

I'll add to this thread when I can....